Die gebrochene Lanze

Saw Broken Lance last nite on Encore Western. It's my second viewing. I really enjoyed Spencer Tracy and Kathy Jurado. Tracy is worth the price of admission and Jurado's sad eyes never fail to draw me in. To those who say it's a play on Joseph & his Brothers, I'm sorry I don't agree. Beyond the superficial similarities, Jacob's sons wouldn't have dreamed of disobeying him, let alone harming him the way the Deveraux boys (Widmark, Holliman, O'Brian) do.

The film has what I believe to be the best film courtroom sequences ever, i.e. the cross-examination of Matt Deveraux.

Definitely worth seeing.

Spencer Tracy stars in this fine western of a tough cattle baron who is not above taking the law into his own hands to deal with rustlers and trespassers. The film also dwells on the internal strife within the family as three of the rancher's adult sons quarrel over the old man's mistreatment of them and resent his marriage to an Indian woman. The story is told in flashback and begins with the release from prison of Robert Wagner, Tracy's son from the union with his younger wife. The film is a quest for revenge by Wagner who blames his half brothers for Tracy's death while he was behind bars, with Richard Widmark being the leader and instigator against Wagner. Jean Peters appears as Wagner's love interest and Katy Jurado is Tracy's Comanche princess. Tracy's destruction of mining property gets him into big trouble and it is Wagner who takes the blame for Tracy and goes to prison instead of his father, which is the final break between the four brothers. The film was shot in CinemaScope and captures the beautiful expanses of the old west.

BROKEN LANCE is a run of the mill Western elevated by Spencer Tracy's unfailingly high acting standards. Screenplay is OK, with an ending that requires much suspension of disbelief, and with a vested anti-racism message which, back in 1954, must have been unusual and even necessary.

Film critic Leonard Maltin sees it as Shakespeare's King Lear in the male version and in the West. He may have a point, though one could argue that the parable of the prodigal son also comes to mind, except that that son is of mixed race (Wagner) who is returning from doing time, and brother Widmark resents him to the point of short-changing him in terms of inheritance.

Widmark begins well enough but gradually goes wide of the mark, and by the end his character is overblown with self-pity, hatred, greed, envy, and many other sins, to the point of trying to shoot his half-brother (the whole sequence is pathetic and lets the film down badly). Needless to say, by comparison Wagner comes across as an angel, not least because he has done three years in jail by taking the blame for a misdeed by his father, Tracy, thereby sparing the latter that time behind bars.

That situation in effect gives Wagner the plum part in the movie but, sadly, apart from the moment when he throws a wad of money into a spitoon, he misses the opportunity. I would have loved to see Marlon Brando in that part.

Katy Jurado, playing Tracy's second wife and the daughter of an Indian chief, is Wagner's mother. Her weak acting is particularly exposed when she comes face to face with Tracy.

The other two brothers hardly have a thing to say, and sound dumb when they open their mouths. Jean Peters is beautiful, which is a plus, but her role is rather limited. The actor who plays her father is convincing, but his part is too short to be noteworthy.

Photography and settings are first class, and give this movie a kind of GONE WITH THE WIND look at times. I have now seen this film some five times, and to me it ends with Tracy's death. The remaining 20+ minutes are painful to watch without him, especially the thoroughly unbelievable sequence where Widmark tries to do Wagner.

This movie has a great cast with Spencer Tracy as the father and owner of a large ranch and and his sons played by Robert Wagner, Richard Widmark, and Hugh O'Brian as his sons. Tracy has been in charge a long time and has a lot of power that got E.G. Marshall elected governor. But everything starts going downhill when two of his sons are caught stealing cattle and Tracy kicks them out. The sons don't think they are being paid enough and Richard Widmark is the first one to turn on his father when he goes on trial for destroying a rival's property. Robert Wagner is the only one to stand up for his father and he winds up going to jail. Katy Jurado plays Tracy's wife and also was in High Noon and One-Eyed Jacks.

Although a remake,this western strongly recalls the story of Joseph and his brothers in Genesis.After all,that's the hero's name ,and his brothers really sell him when they refuse to give more money to the bosses of the copper mine .Leonard Maltin wrote that it owes a deal to "king lear" too,the daughters becoming sons.Richard Widmark is the stand-out and easily outshines the "good" Robert Wagner and his two other brothers who are no more than walk-ons anyway.In his final confrontation with Tracy,he even surpasses the veteran :he succeeds,which is not a small feat, in making us believe that he had a very hard life and that he's not so bad after all.

"Broken lance" ranks among Dmytryk's best works ,more human than "Warlock" and a thousand times better than the latter days ' fiascoes such as "Alvarez Kelly" and the dreadful "Shalako".Released just after the brilliant "Caine mutiny" ,it compares favorably to it,in its own way.The opening is intriguing :we do believe ,for a short while,that Joe (Wagner) is the black sheep of the family ,and then , a long flashback -a device which is rarely used in westerns - brilliantly starting with the patriarch's(Tracy)painting in a deserted house ,tells the whole story.Also unusual is the rather long trial ,a reason for which some will classify the movie as talky,which is unfair,because so many qualities in a western are rare to find.Tracy's death is a real tour de force verging on supernatural.There's also a sensitive wistful performance by Katy Jurado ,as Tracy's second wife .